Category Archives: Butterfly Bridge

Post navigation

Hello Butterflies!!
I just flew in to share a link to a powerful, must see documentary film called “Once and for All”, presented by Makers and AOL.

This film documents one of the most important events in the history of Womanity…the day all women became legally human!

Sounds strange, I know. Everyone knows that women have always been human beings. That’s common sense; but it hasn’t always been common social and/or legal sense.

It wasn’t until the Fourth World Confrence on women in 1995 (only 20 years ago) that the world began to officially recognize women’s rights and issues as human rights and issues. And it was glorious!

This film documents the thousands of women from every religion and various countries around the world who flocked to China to share their stories and make their voices heard.

And leading the charge was the then FLOTUS (First Lady Of The United States) Hillary R. Clinton. Her speech before the UN delegates was epic! It was this speech catalyzed this new movement that gave women the right to be human.

I got goose bumps when I finally got to listen to it.

Back in ’95, we didn’t have full access to events like these. Without the internet, our knowledge of such events were limited to local media reports-which were very limited and very biased and often degrading.

It wasn’t until years later that young women, such as myself, became fully aware of the significance of the conference. I’m glad the film makers revealed some of it in the film. Those same discriminatory mindsets still exist 20 years later.

If we want to be effective in the fight to end this discrimination, we have to know that we have the right to. And this conference solidified that right.

Thankfully, the entire event is documented in this film so that women and girls world wide for generations to come can witness this historic event.

I invite each of you to watch it and then SHARE it with every woman and girl you know.

Click on the above link to watch the film and to join the fight to end human inequality….once and for all.
Love and Blessings!
Steen

Today, December 1st is World AIDS Day and I wanted to spend a few moments dropping a short post about the importance of today. It’s not a holiday or a day to celebrate; today is a day to conservate -Humanity, that is.

Even though HIV/AIDS no longer makes the “hot topics” list with most media outlets, we need to be just as concerned about the disease now as we did when we first became aware of it. The fact that it is not a “hot topic”, in my personal opinion, is one reason we still have a significant number of new cases among women and young people.

Currently, there are over 34 million people worldwide, living with HIV/AIDS. Of that group, 50% are women. Globally, HIV/AIDS related death is the leading cause of death among women.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), 1 in every 3 new HIV case reported were young adults between the ages of 15-24; 22% of these being young girls. There are over 3.2 million children living with the disease as well.

Although the number of new cases is falling, even 1 case in a world as technologically advanced as ours is 1 too many; we’ve got to get HIV/AIDS back on the ‘Hot Topics” list!

While scientist, researchers and physicians are making strides to find a cure for this deadly disease, the best way to keep the disease from spreading is through prevention. Prevention not only requires that we educate ourselves about the disease and how to contract it, but it also requires us to have frequent conversations about safe sex and annual testings.

Please take the time to visit AIDS.gov to get more informed, so that you can get more involved in spreading the word to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS!

It is time to have a real conversation about all of the allegations of rape that have come against the famed Dr. Bill Cosby. Not for the benefit of Mr. Cosby, or for the benefit of the women … Continue reading →

I hope you had a great week and I also hope you are ready to Strike a Pose….well, actually a “counter pose” for a young Butterfly that needs a little support from the Sisterhood.

I came across this post on Feministing.com about a young girl named Jada.

Here is the just of the post entitled “Stand With Jada” by Maya Duensbery.“There’s no good reason we should know the name of 16-year-old Jada. The only reason we do is that after she was drugged and raped at a party of a fellow high school student in Huston, her assault went viral-a phrase I hope to never have occasion to write ever again. Jada had no idea what happened to her that night until she started seeing images and videos being passed around on social media and got texts from friends asking if she was ok. Then-with almost unimaginable callousness-her peers started mocking her assault by posting images of themselves lying on the floor in the same pose as Jada’s unconscious body under the hastag #jadapose.” (via Femisting.com)

You can read the article in it’s entirety here at Feministing.com and see just how brave and inspiring this young lady is. She’s not backing down from her attackers or her mockers and I for one am very proud of her.

What’s so heartbreaking to me is the fact that anyone could make fun of her knowing that she was assaulted. They all knew that she was raped yet the all decided, for some reason, to join in on the attack. Yes, as far as I’m concerned, everyone who posted a picture mocking her, or shared video of the attack and/or used the hash tag is guilty of raping this girl. This is virtual gang rape.

You know, I must have missed a couple of meetings, and I definitely didn’t get the memo that said rape was now funny. Where did this mentality come from? And when did we get so disconnected from humanity and reality that we actually come together, like a savage mob, to literally try to destroy an innocent child? I just don’t get it…

While we may not be able to take back all that Jada has been through, we can help her get through this. And we may even be able to help her fight this ugly virtual attack against her.

The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault on their twitter account suggested that anyone willing to stand up for Jada should tweet the hash tag #JadaCounterPose with an image that challenges rape and rape culture.

The Butterfly Bridge is standing with Jada and I hope the rest of you Butterflies will do the same. Just use the #JadaCounterPose hash tag and let the Twitterverse, InstagramNation, Pinterest, and Facetopia know that rape is not ok and it definitely isn’t funny.
Until we FLY again!

As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights Act in the United States, we must consider the the potential legal ramifications the Hobby Lobby decision has upon the rights so many people fought and died … Continue reading →

~Hello Butterflies~ It’s been such a while since my last post. I really wish this was a post about good news, (don’t worry that is soon to come!) but unfortunately, as usual my wings are in a tizzy and … Continue reading →

Hello Butterflies! It’s been a while, huh? I haven’t written in a while not for lack of material; there has been a lot going on in Womanity these past few months. So much has gone on that I haven’t had … Continue reading →

Anger cannot fully express what I am feeling about this case right now. Since I am struggling for words, I will keep it brief. A judge in Montana, Todd Baugh, issued a 30 day jail sentence to Dean Rambold, … Continue reading →

I try to find inspirational stories about women from all over the world. Stories of women who encourage us to act or get involved with issues affecting women; educate us on issues women face, the advancements they are making and … Continue reading →

After reading an article on the Women In The World site about a blog called The Everyday Sexism Project, I became inspired. The Everyday Sexism Project is a blog site created by actress and activist Laura Bates. The purpose of the blog is to allow women post stories of the … Continue reading →